In 1852, Vicente Martinez Ybor (1818-1896), a Spanish immigrant from Valencia who had gone to Cuba in 1832, began making El Principe de Gales brand cigar in Havana.  The dissertation titled Don Vicente Martinez Ybor, the Man and His Empire: Development of the Clear Havana Industry in Cuba and Florida in the Nineteenth Century presents a detailed history of his life.  El Principe de Gales brand was a knock-off of the Prince Of Wales brand of cigars which were made by another factory during the same time. Martinez Ybor also made a knock-off of the popular Figaro brand dubbed A Lo Figaro.  

In 1868 the devastating 10 Year's War began in Cuba, so in 1869 Martinez Ybor moved El Principe de Gales factory to Key West to escape the war and evade arrest for aiding Cuban rebels during their uprising against Spain.  In 1887 Martinez Ybor moved El Principe De Gales to Tampa, due to fire damage to his factory and to labor unrest between Spanish and Cuban factory workers in Key West. Construction of The V. Martinez Ybor & Co. Factory Building designed by C. E, Parcell was completed in 1886.  Hillsborough County records show construction date of 1895 but it is well known it was built in 1886.  At the time of its inauguration, it was the largest cigar factory building in the world and is to this day the oldest remaining cigar factory building in Tampa.  It was supposed to be the first cigar factory in Tampa but Martinez Ybor could not beat Sanchez & Haya in becoming the first production cigar factory in town by two months.  Sanchez & Haya opened for business on April 1, 1886 while V. Matinez Ybor & Co. did not open until June 13, 1886.  

The building is located at the corner of Republica de Cuba St. & 9th Ave., fronting Republica de Cuba St.  Originally, it consisted of a three story main nave.  In 1892 a one-story packing room addition was attached to the north of the original structure along 9th Ave.  When Julius Ellinger decided to move from West Tampa to Ybor City, the packing room area was leased to the Julius Ellinger Co.  After Ellinger's death on May 17, 1902, the Julius Ellinger Co. merged with then renamed Ybor-Manrara Co. becoming part of The Havana-American Co.  

In 1895 a small one-story brick office extension was attached to the left/south of the main nave.  In 1902 an additional three story structure was added on the corner of 13th St. & 8th Ave. known as the Havana American Stemmery because it was there the stems would be separated from the tobacco leaves.  This addition was leased from ca. 1915 to 1932 to the M. Stachelberg & Co.  The last structure added to the complex was the 1903 brick bonded warehouse building on the corner of 13th St. & 9th Ave.  This structure was previously the Manuel Chavez cigar factory building identified as such in the 1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of June 1899.  The three buildings that practically occupied the whole city block, totaled 77,622 sq. ft. and had a common courtyard between them.  

The V. Martinez Ybor & Co. factory produced the following brands: La Sagasta, Rosa de Junio, Flor de Madrid, Mi Perla, Bianca, La Perla, Castenera, Abundancia, El Triunfo, La Sublima, Panderetta, Amorosa, Messina, Flor de Roby, La Selegna, La Palladina, La Mulysa, La Tenitas, Monona, Estancia, Cetina, Urbino, Anavah, El Abrazo, Madrileña, Telitah, Los Imortalles, Tasmania, La Chanita and La Genoa.  Its flagship product was of course the Principe de Gales cigar, which quality and acceptance is very well described in this 1906 article in The Theater Magazine. 

After his death in 1896, principal ownership of V. Martinez Ybor & Co. passed on to Eduardo Manrara, Martinez Ybor longtime friend and business associate who was willed 75% ownership.  V. Martinez Ybor & Co. then changed its name to Ybor-Manrara Co.  In 1899 Ybor-Manrara Co. consolidated with Seidenberg & Co. and other cigar companies to form The Havana-American Co.  In 1901 The Havana-American Cigar Co. was acquired by the American Cigar Co. a branch of American Tobacco Co. also known as The Cigar Trust, headed by James Buchanan Duke.

On June 12, 1901 V. Martinez Ybor Sons Co. was incorporated under the laws of Florida.  According to this article in the March 7, 1902 Tobacco publication, V. Martinez Ybor Sons Co. was established at a factory on 16th St. & 15th Ave.  The company was established by Vicente Martinez Ybor sons Salvador Vicente Martinez Ybor-Revillas as President and Rafael Martinez Ybor-Revillas as Vice President, A. Ramirez as Secretary/Treasurer and  Manuel Chavez as Superintendent. Chavez and Ramirez  both had years experience at Ybor-Manrara Co.   

In 1954 Hav-A-Tampa purchased the V. Martinez Ybor Cigar factory building and manufactured cigars there until 1961, then used it as a warehouse until 1972.  They sold the building to Trend Publications in 1972.  On July 31, 1980 Ybor Squate LTD acquired ownership of the factory building and made it into a small shopping mall.  On May 12, 2010, the Church of Scientology bought the factory building and currently uses it as administrative space and as a place of assembly.   Besides the Church, the the Stemmery building used to be known as Ybor Square and the old warehouse building houses the offices of Creative Loafing and used to house The Spaghetti Warehouse which closed in 2020. 

While taking pictures of the outside, a security guard from the Church of Scientology approached me and was kind enough to allow me to take pictures of the interior and some of the old equipment still on the premises, their generosity is greatly appreciated.  The Principe de Gales cigar box and label printing plate are made available by Robert Cerkleski from his private collection.